Shoe and the art of making shoes



July 30, 1929. v'v C, BENNETT E'r'AL 1,722,967

' SHOE AND THE:- ART oF MAKING SHOES v Filed Aug. 3, 1926 WALLACE C. BENNETT, OE HINGHAM, AND ALBERT E.

SACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOES To BENNETT BOX Co.,

-Pafanfe'd July 3o, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CORPORATION OE MASSACHUSETTS.

MILLER, OF CAMBRIDGE, MAS- OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A

` SHOE AND THE ART OE MAKING SHOES.

Application led August 3, 1926. Serial No. 126,905.

This invention, which relates to improvements'in Shoes and in the art of making shoes, has especial reference to those parts of the shoe where apermanence of form is easily be worked with the other materials to the desired shape, as by lasting, Whileit is at atmospheric temperature and in lts natural State; and this working having been effecteds the. invention employs a reaction which changes the character of the worked sheet of material so that it tends to remain.

in the shape in which it is, and thus produces the final fixed result. Hence its utility is no1` limited to those kinds of shoes in which the process can be completed only within a certain limited time, after which the stiffener will have lost its temporary softness, but lits applicability extends to all types of shoes having an upper stitched to a sole, including types, suchA as turn shoes, to which stiifeners heretofore known to 'us have not been conample, in such cases as fe t veniently applicable. The invention permits of the operation being interrupted, at any time before the final step, without the condition of the stiifener being appreciably altered by any delay thus occurring. The process is nevertheless more speedy than others known tous, more simple and convenient in its incidents, ve economical and perfectly safe as regards l(lnger of lire, or

discomfort or danger to health of Workmen practicing it. At the same time it makes a product, as a toe box, which is Superior to any other variety of box of which we know in that it can make a smoothly finished toe, and can be made to have any chosen degree of softness, flexibility or Stitutes a toe in which the materials are Well integrated, with` a tendency, if distortedk by pressure always to return to the'predetermined form. -Applied in a, counter, the counter lits' closely to the last, is pliable and not stiff like a board, yet holding its shape. Therefore it is particularl useful, for excomfort lisa quality principally desired. In

A the case ofi delicate fabricashoes, or line hardness, and conslippers where leather, the Setting reaction may be carried out` by a step, Selected from among those available,.which Will not impair the fabric or leather. The execution of the process is adaptable to mechanism having automatic control, so as to produce exactness of exev cution; but even without this the process is particularly free from producing seconds or damaged pieces. When the preferred material is used the completed box is not brittle and is not spoiled by proximity to a steam pipe or other heat such as the wearer may casually encounter. The box may be made very thin, a quality which is much desired by manufacturers of high grade Shoes, to

enable them to preserve the smooth lines of the last, without that bulging of the tip which shows where the box is inserted, in

cases where the stilfening material is thick or bulky. The preferred style of the box of the invention yields when pressed gently, and, when the pressure is relieved,` seeks automatically to return to the shape in which it was finished. -Thus it is not broken by pressure, it is not injured by water or thereby separated from other parts of the toe; but when once nished it remains permanently in the Shape of .the last, except when temporarily distorted by pressure, making a shoe in which the lining, the box, and the tip, or doubler if any is used, are a completely integrated unit. The process of manufacture is simpler than others known to us, among those commonly practiced, in that the operations are fewer and are of Such character that they fit naturally into the routine Of'shoe factory organization; the process is also more convenient in that it can be interrupted,A at any time before the final step by which the toe is actually iinished, without damage or trouble arising; and in that any but the final Step can easily be repeated for correction of an error. And another advantage is lowness of cost, both as to materials and as to labor and. as to incidental losses, Such that it makes the' finest of box toes appear about comparable in cost with the cheapest and the poorest of such atv present known to us to be practiced in the industry.

The State ofthe art prior to this invention is shown by the foregoing list of advantages,

1n that no prior product of this nature pos'- this in scope.

in that in each instance the Vstatement of one of these advantages is the statement of a distinction of the present from some or other ofthe numerous efforts that have heretofore been made to work out a satisfactory met-hod and product in the art of shoe manufacture to which the invention relates.

These and other advantages herein mentioned result in part from the generic process and in part from the particular species and ingredients herein described. The improvement in general involves the preparing of a sheet of material which is naturally limp 4.but which has t-he property of being converted by a chemical reaction, preferably occasioned by application of heat, to a substance or state having a permanent set; the inserting of this limp sheet into the shoe; the forming of it therein as desired, and then by heat giving to it a permanent set. A. specific illustration is found in the filling of a sheet of cloth, cotton-Hannel, or felt or other fibrous material, with an unvulcanized rubber compound; cutting a toe blank .from

.a sheet of this limp material; lasting the said blank in the toe of the shoe; and afterward subjecting the shoe while still on the last to heat for vulcanizing the said compound. Pressure is provided by the stretch .of the leather, due to the presenceof the last, during the heat; and the continuation of this heat for three minutes or whatever other time maybe suitable for the particular compound used, at a temperature which may be predetermined, and which may be automatically controlled at a degree'not injurious to the leather, occasions the reaction which produces the finished product; and then the last may be immediately pulled.

This specification sets forth the material,

rubber, and the specific final step, vulcanization, occasloned by the method, application terial and Figure 2 is a facie view of a blank cut therefrom, the same being cloth impregnated with rubber compound containing vulcaniz ing material, with which the invention may`y be practiced. f`

Figure 3 is a View of part of a shoe einbodyingfthe; invention.

Figure 41s a longltudinal section throng* the toe of a shoe embodying the invention.

The .more detailed description now to be given will both show Ithe practice of the invention andcertain contrasts thereof with the methods and materials which are at present extensively in use for the same pu oses.

As the largest and most important'fie d for i thoroughly-and to cover -both sides. Figure 1 is an edge view of such a sheet 10, which may be assumed to have been treated with the compound by suitable machinery, the sheet being in whatever width of cloth comes in the market and bein of indefinite length. The rubbercompoun is preferably one which-will vulcanize at a temperature that does not injure the leather or other material which is to be used in the toe, for example, about 200 F. orl a trifle lower. compounds of this description, capable of vulcanization in three to twelve 'minutes at such a temperature are already known to rubber chemists and can be selected or compounded according to the temperature and length of time desired for the vulcanization Rubber set, o r for the degree of hardness desired. A

By the selection of the compound, or by the selection and compounding of ingredients thereforLthe operator can control the "softness, resilience, or hardness of thefinished toe.

and limp; and is tacky. It is to be cut into shapes suitable for the uses to`which it 1s to be put. A suitable shape for a toe box 12 is shown in Figure 2, the dimensions being` The sheet thus prepared is soft, pliable torles are now commonly organized; and C being limp it requires no incidental preparation as is common in connection with other box stiffeners, where heat or some solvent is used to soften a naturally hard stifening material in order to permit df its being shaped to `the last. The avoidance of theuse of solvents is one distinctive advantage of the invention, as the softening solvents commonly in use have obnoxious fumes which are detrimental to workmen, and which often involve a fire risk for the factory, in-

creasing both cost andv dangersof operation.

If preferred, the stitching ofthe blank as above described may be. omitted and 'the blank may be slipped in with the other parts at the time of pulling-over, without being stitched. As the toe blank preferably is tacky, it easily adheres to the upper on one side and to the lining on the other. The thinness of the sheet of cloth and rubber of which the blank consists is the reason why the completed box has the very distinct 'advantage of being made so notably thin, making a superior product. This feature also eliminates the manufacturing step, which is necessary in many previous boxes, of skiving the edges of the stiii'ening material in the effort to prevent the finished toe from showing a bulge where the edge of the stiening material occurs. Another characteristic is that the box of the invention can beyhammered out nicely with the effect that the hammering tends to improve the box rather y than to harm it, as thepmaterial oozes under the hammer blow and easily iattens out and fills up crevices.

The upper, with the box'thus stitched in,

Ain its natural rag-limpness, is given to the puller-over and then to the laster who carry out the lasting operation to completion, with the stiffener remaining limp and unresilient while the toe is pulled over. and made fast. All thus far has been with no waste of time in assembling, heating or softening the blank, and without the serious wrinkles which sometimes occur in the lasting operation, due to stiffness of the inserted stitfener. The quality of resilience, orof permanence of set, is then developed by a brief period, which may be one, three or more minutes, of heating of the entire shoe toe while on the last. r[his may be done by steam, or in any other convenient Way, and thereby this part of the shoe manufacture is linished.

The application of this vulcanizing heat may be executed under automatic control as to temperature .and duration. No pressure is needed other than that under which the material is, as a result of the pulling over and the lasting, because the shoe is remaining on the last. As soon as this step has been completed, the last can vbe pulled, immediately if desired, the application of heat having made an integrated toe which, Whenvdistorted, 'seeks to return to the shape in which is was vulcanized.

In the finished shoe represented in Figure 3 the box 12 is seen between the leather 14 and the lining 16 of" the upper. The thickness of the box l2 is necessarily exaggerated, itmay have'sucient resilience for its purposes and plished by the vulcanization at a temperature" enduring for a brief time, as above indiyet be so thin that its edge 12', extending. across the toe, makes no ridge or* cated, less than is sutlicient to injure the leather.

The process may proceed from step to step as slowly or as rapidly as may be convenient, thus permitting the handling of shoes i-n lots of'any size, for during the rocess the individual shoe stiffener undergoes but slight change while waiting. Thus a number of uppers, after having the blanks stitched in, may be left until the next workman is ready to take them; or the shoe, in a partially or fully lasted form, may be left for a time upon the racks without damage. Or it may be lasted, pulled out and .relasted several times, if necessary. In these respects it differs from other boxes which when softened have to be dealt with immediately, and which in some cases after once being lasted cannot be reworked, without great difficulty. The box of the invention also differs from those in which heat is used to soften thebox into pliability, in that this box is initially -perfectly pliable, and the heat is used to ,convert very soft iexible rubber, or anything between; and the quality of resilience comes incidentally, as also waterproofness. The vulcanization or final reaction is not necessarily effectedy by` heat, but it will be observed that ifa4v cold vulcanization process be employed in which the reaction begins with the mere putting together of the ingredients and proceeds until finished some of the advantages which attend the vulcanization by heat are not attained. Other suitable materia-ls may be used in place of rubber, producing their characteristic qualities when converted or hardened by heat or other- Wise. The word rubber is used in this specification in a generic sense, `so as to include any natural or synthetic products having the general properties of rubber as utilized by the process and product herein set forth.

We claim as our invention:

l. A leather shoe having in its upper a soft toef which is flexibly resilient as` a whole, rrexteriorly is smoothly continuous withV the adjacent exterior leather surface n ments being interpenetrated by the rubber compound, and said compoundbeing set by vulcanization in the form constituted by its said position ofinterpenetration, whereb the thinness of the said carrier andthe-in-l terpenetration of the said compound produce an edge beginning of the box part of the toe which is substantially imperceptible in exterior visual aspect and substantially impalpable interiorly to the foot of the wearer; the said composite product constituting an organization. in the toe lining wherein the carrier sheet and its interconnection by the vulcanized rubber to the adjacent fabric modify the normal limpness of said fabric so that Without substantial increase of thickness the Whole has become suiiciently stii' to maintain the toe form normally and suiiiciently resilient to restore the toe form after deformation.

2. A leather shoe at an intermediate stage of manufacture, ready for lasting, comprlsing an upper, in the toe portion of which there is leather with its exterior extending smoot-hly and continuously from the adjacent part of the shoe into the toe portion; material lining the leather interiorly; and a thin and limp fabricated sheet carrier,

' with rubber compound carried thereby, l

- v ing next to the lining and in position for t erubber compound carried by it to be pressed 'into the lining; said compound being prepared for vulcanization by heat and pressure, and being vulcanizable at a tem erature approximating 200 degrees F. an not exceeding that suiciently to injure the said leather. A

3. The art of making a soft and resilient toe in a leather shoe comprising the insert-` ing, between ordinary limp sheet materials of the upper at the toe, of a sheet of thin and limp fibrous fabric carrying unvulcanized rubber compound distributed over at least one of its faces; compressing the said sheet materials of the toe together with the inserted sheet by the lasting operation; and

then vulcanizing vthe said rubber While on the last by heat applied for a few minutes at a temperature not substantially exceeding 200 degrees F. whereby without adding substantially to the thickness of the toe materials in the aggregate, and without injurious heating of the vleatherthe previously limp lining materials become softly and re? siliently set in the form of the toe.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, thisl twenty-ninth day of July, 1926. A WALLACE C. BENNETT. f ALBERT B. MILLER. 

